Ventura, the avant-garde brand of Swiss watches, is back. The first “manufacture électronique” for high quality digital watches has recently presented, in the shape of the SPARC MGS, a timepiece which once more sets a new benchmark in chronometer design. The watch represents a revival of the legendary designs created by Hannes Wettstein, the designer who gave Ventura watches their individual identity. This tradition is now being carried on by a new generation of ”Studio Hannes Wettstein” designers. (by Susanne Fritz)

Take a training in structural-engineering draughtsmanship, the rational, pared-down aesthetic of the Swiss, and the talent of a natural designer and you get Hannes Wettstein, the creative whose furniture, product designs and interiors form a memorable body of work with an emphasis on simplicity of form. The material legacy of Wettstein, who died far too young in 2008, is currently being celebrated in Zurich at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), where an exhibition in its striking main hall combines the display of some of his archetype-defining products with large-scale projections of his sketches. Architonic was there, of course, and offer you some photographic impressions of the installation-like show.